26 ❙ WATT POULTRY USA
■ POULTRY PROCESSING
Tips for reducing Salmonella loads on
poultry parts
Poultry processors are preparing for coming evaluations of their HACCP
plans for ground products and are working to lower Salmonella numbers in
advance of new standards.
BY TERRENCE O'KEEFE
❯❯In response to two large ground turkey recalls in recent years prompted by human illness
outbreaks tied to two serotypes of Salmonella,
the United States Department of Agriculture
Food Safety and Inspection Service announced
changes to its ground poultry Salmonella sampling program. The sample size for ground
poultry was increased from 25 grams to 325
grams, which makes it much more likely that
Salmonella will be found in an individual sample. The Food Safety and Inspection Service
will also include mechanically separated poul-
Salmonella reduction in poultry parts
decontamination tank
9
PAA = Peracetic acid
CPC = Cetylpyridnium chloride
8
Log CFU per sample
7
7.8
6.8
6
5
4
3
7
6.2
try into the ground poultry Salmonella sampling program for the first time.
Dr. Shelley McKee, associate professor,
Auburn University, said that samples of mechanically separated chicken and mechanically
separated turkey can be positive for Salmonella
70 percent to 90 percent of the time with 25gram samples. Mechanically separated product
produced by a plant may be excluded from the
Salmonella sampling program if the plant can
demonstrate that this product is only used by
federally inspected facilities to produce readyto-eat products.
McKee said that Salmonella tests
treated in
performed by the USDA utilize an enrichment method that makes it possible
to detect Salmonella in ground poultry
CFU = Colony forming unit
products even if it is present at very low
levels. McKee, who spoke at the Turkey
6.35
Processor Workshop at the Midwest
Poultry Federation Convention, said
5.4
4.55
that the increased sample size will
make it difficult for poultry processors
2
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Whether used as a spray or a dip, the two
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ive
sit
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ati
eg
Source: Dr. Shelley McKee
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at e
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antimicrobials that worked most efficiently and
effectively were peracetic acid at 700 parts per
million and cetylpyridinium chloride at a 0.6
percent solution.
www.WATTAgNet.com ❙ May 2013

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